SAN FRANCISCO--When Yuki Kawamura flipped a long underhanded pass to a teammate, who went on to slam a thunderous dunk, the play-by-play announcer shouted in a voice that reverberated throughout the arena: “From Yuki!”

The action was part of the National Basketball Association G League Up Next Game, an all-star event of the NBA’s minor league, which was held in San Francisco in February.

Kawamura, who stands only 172 centimeters tall, contributed three assists in 10 minutes of playing time. He is currently the shortest of all the 500 or so active NBA players. 

“It all happened in an instant,” the smiling 23-year-old Japanese said of the highlight moment that came after he won the top place in the Up Next Game fan vote.

The Up Next Game was a showcase for promising players who are expected to make a name for themselves in the NBA in the coming years.

Kawamura appeared in the game with Keisei Tominaga, who had been a fellow member of the Japanese national team during the Paris Summer Olympics in 2024, thereby adding a new page to the history of Japan’s basketball.

The occasion, however, did not draw much attention from the locals.

The Up Next Game was held on a court that had been installed specially in the innermost space on the back of a corporate exhibition event.

It was just one of the many preliminary events for the NBA All-Star Game, which was held at the home arena of the Golden State Warriors about 2 kilometers away.

An exhibition hall and a sports arena--the disparity between the venues of the two all-star games highlighted the difficult position that Kawamura is in.

The former playmaker for the Japanese national basketball team went to the United States alone last autumn after the Paris Games ended.

Kawamura’s initial contract with the Memphis Grizzlies, based in Tennessee, did not guarantee him a roster spot in the NBA.

But he worked hard to impress his team and fans during the preseason games.

Kawamura won praise for his outstanding passing technique and broad court vision, which allows him to instantly see what is transpiring.

He thereupon won a “two-way contract,” which allows him to play in the NBA while also continuing to accumulate playing time with the Memphis Hustle, the G League affiliate of the Grizzlies.

Kawamura made his debut, as the fourth Japanese to play in the NBA, against the Houston Rockets in October.

He scored a new personal best of 10 points, and contributed three assists, off the bench in a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in December.

Kawamura made his presence felt in the world’s most prestigious basketball league at a speed that exceeded expectations.

He is the first Japanese point guard to join the NBA since Yuta Tabuse did so for the Phoenix Suns in 2004. Tabuse now plays for the Utsunomiya Brex, a club in the B1 division of the Japan Professional Basketball League (B.League).

Yuta Watanabe, now with the B1 club Chiba Jets, debuted in the NBA in 2018. Rui Hachimura, now playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, followed suit in the following year.

But Kawamura’s venture into the NBA is different from that of Watanabe and Hachimura, both of whom stand more than 2 meters tall.

Observers thought it would take kawamura some time to get accustomed to looking up at his opponents and to overcome his height disadvantage. But he exceeded expectations in a positive sense.

Kawamura has showed off his adaptability.

He played the leading role of competent scorer when he starred for the Yokohama B-Corsairs, a B1 team.

On the Grizzlies, by contrast, he is fulfilling the role of a supporting player who tosses passes as suited to the situation.

He is also gradually catching on to the right sense of distance for shooting three-pointers from a line that is about 0.5 meters farther from the basket than in the B.League.

Kawamura is one of the leading players on the Hustle, averaging 12.9 points and 9.1 assists per game as of March 3.

But he is facing high barriers in trying to go beyond that.

The Grizzlies are currently near the top in the NBA’s Western Conference standings. Developing Kawamura, the third in the pecking order at his guard position, is not among the team’s priorities as it looks toward the playoffs.

He plays for an average of only slightly more than three minutes per game.

“I could be cut (released) at any moment,” Kawamura said.

The remark betrayed a sense of alarm precisely because he realizes how difficult it would be for him to establish himself in the NBA.

Kawamura said a self-stated “mission” is giving him moral support as he spends his days on the "edge of a cliff."

“I want to prove that you can play in the NBA even if you are short and Asian,” he said.

Representatives of Hong Kong’s news media were among the reporters who interviewed Kawamura after the Up Next Game.

A male program director said that “Slam Dunk,” a Japanese basketball manga, is hugely popular in Hong Kong.

He said Kawamura is drawing growing attention because he chose to wear the number seven on his uniform, the same number worn by Ryota Miyagi, who is the playmaker for a team in "Slam Dunk."

The Hong Kong program director said that Kawamura, among the few Asian players in the NBA, has only a 1 cm height difference from him.

There is no professional basketball league in Hong Kong, but Kawamura's spectacular showing makes Hong Kong hoopsters believe they could play in the NBA if they train hard, he said. 

The accomplishments of the shortest player in the league makes for a plain and simple story that evokes sympathy around the world.

That is precisely why fans spare no applause for the Japanese guard, who usually is sent onto the court only for a short time near the end of a game that is already decided.

“I hope to enjoy this process as part of my development,” Kawamura said. “I will continue proving my case day after day, no matter what.”

Kawamura never ceases his efforts in the belief that he will be playing the leading role on an NBA court one day.